The film’s name is “How a Folk Singer’s Murder Forced Chile to Confront Its Past” This film is from Chile, a country on South America’s coastline. I saw the film on YouTube on the 23rd of November, 2022. Before I clicked the link and watched the video, I felt emotional brought about by its title. I had a sympathy expectation because the film’s title concerns the death of a singer. The film is about artists who get together to honor the late folk singer Victor Jara, who was assassinated in Chile in 1973 during a military coup (Retro Report). Forty-five years after the death of Victor, his family has been still looking for justice. Jara entered the stadium and was immediately recognized since he was a well-known artist. He was then separated from the other prisoners before being assaulted, tormented below the stadium, and killed because his music conveyed a message in the last song he wrote. Finally, in 2016 the family of Victor found justice as the Barrientos received a $28 million judgment verdict, which they could not afford.
Jara wrote and sang songs that were quite relevant to the people in Chile. After Chilean police brutally evicted squatters in 1969 and killed ten locals, he openly criticized the interior minister in Preguntas Por Puerto Montt (Lynske). I liked the scene in the film when Jara sang a song calling for deliverance from the ruler of poverty. The reason for liking the scene is because it conveys a message to everyone to practice justice and equality. Other songs offered gentle, sympathetic tales of rural working-class lives, like Bradfield’s favorite Luchín. One of Jara’s final songs, Manifiesto, was a ballad-like anthem with a message that read, “A song has meaning/ When it beats in the veins/ Of a man who will die singing.” (Lynske). Jara was killed on the morning of the 16th and shot with machine gun fire before being discarded on the street. One of the reasons that led to his death was that he drafted a song carrying a message on the morning of his death.
Victor Jara is still regarded as a national legend in Chile, and his death was a tragic incident in that country’s history. Another scene I liked is where a Florida civil court convicted former Chilean army commander Pedro Barrientos, who was responsible for Jara’s demise in 2016. Then eight former senior officers were found guilty in 2018 and sentenced to prison for their participation. I liked this scene because justice was served at last, 45 years after the tragedy. Following the decision, Joan said that she was among the lucky ones because many people in Chile still do not know the destiny of their loved ones (Retro Report). It would be good if justice were served to many others as Joan Jara did.
I like the plot of this film because it is chronological and ends with a positive theme of justice. The story is credible as it made me feel good since the perpetrators who participated in the death of Victor ended up in jail. It taught me that it is possible to receive justice even after many years. The story relates to my Hispanic culture in the way, in some parts, people speak Spanish, even Victor sings in Spanish, and the judge delivers fairness. When these values are compared to our culture, it is seen that Hispanics are a Spanish-speaking nation with courts to serve justice.
The movie maker wanted to convey the message that justice should prevail even if many years of the tragic event pass. I recommend the film to other students of Spanish because the background of the scene is a singer who used to sing in Spanish, and after his assassination, justice finally prevails. The filmmaker could improve the event by involving a translator who speaks rather than subtitling in the place where they speak Spanish.
Works Cited
Lynske, Dorian. “Víctor Jara: The Folk Singer Murdered for His Music.” BBC Culture, Web.
“How a Folk Singer’s Murder Forced Chile to Confront Its Past.” YouTube, uploaded by Retro Report, Web.